Pursing a pro-biological lifestyle

Before leaving my wonderful Dutch family my brother-in-law Henny had a huge request: curry. As a young man he lived in India as an exchange worker for some time and grew to love this dish. Now I must admit that I did not eat or cook a great deal of Indian food even as a student, even though I had quite a few Indian and East Asian friends. Being Polish, and mingling with an eclectic group of ethnicities during my college years, my friends and I ate in a largely fused kitchen, mixing spices and elements from many cuisines. Many of us had a staple favorite though – a small Thai restaurant offshooting from our campus – serving great pad Thai, amazing bubble teas and a great coconut chicken curry.

1/2 pound (about 1/4 kilo) chicken – any part, I used deskinned legs and thighs that simmered in the chicken broth

3 potatoes – we used red skinned

2 medium onions

2 bell peppers – any color

3/4 pound (about 10 medium) carrots

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 can ( about 300 ml) coconut milk – if you have fresh coconut milk more power to you!

2 tablespoons curcumin powder

1 teaspoon basil ( I used dried, fresh is great too)

1 teaspoon cilantro – dried or fresh

salt to taste ( I used about 1 a teaspoon and a half, Himalayan)

pepper to taste ( about 1/2 teaspoon)

A large pan or wok

Total time: 50 minutes to 1 hour

Instructions:

To make this faster, I had already pre-cooked the chicken in broth. Cooking the potatoes in advance is also better. In any case, carrots and onions are diced into small pieces and fried in a dollop of coconut oil, onions first – until glossy, and then the carrots, also sliced and diced. I added a bit of salt with every vegetable to seal in every individual flavor. That takes about 15 minutes. Then add the washed and diced bell peppers, for another 5-7 minutes in the pan. Then in go the potatoes and chicken, along with the basil and cilantro. Let that heat for another few minutes.

The coconut milk goes in next, and a bit of simmering happens. Top that off with the curcumin ( or curry) powder and pepper, and let that simmer for another few minutes. Voila! A real feast all in the confines of one dish. Top with fresh basil or cilanto and serve. Cheers and good health!

all the vegetables looked glorious together the coconut milk that looked the most trustworthy at the local store

So I’m visiting my Dutch family ( my sister Gosia is married to Henny, who is 100% Dutch, and has lived here for a long time) in the Netherlands – the country known for it’s tulips, windmills, massive scale bicyling. What I also noticed about the Dutch is that they know and love their cheese. Jonge kaas – young cheese, Belage kaas – aged cheese (gaining firmness and flavor with time), Geitenkaas (goat milk cheese), Maasdam, Edam, Rotterdam, Old Amsterdam – many of their cities have their specific cheese – and of course Gouda. With the ending of Carnival, what better way to celebrate Fat Tuesday than to make a rich cheesecake, and for easy fun a no bake version?

Looking at recipes, I saw that a lot of them used cream cheese, and using my google translate I found out that the Dutch counterpart is roomkaas. The crust was made with cookie crumbs and grass-fed butter, since it is one of the healthiest fats around. Grasboter, as grass-fed butter is called in the Netherlands, is full of important fat soluable vitamins like Vitamin A (butter is best source) and Vitamin E, necessary for good eye (Vit. A), as well as endocrine (thyroid gland) health. Both also help with the immune system, making us more resistant to infections, toxins, and diseases in general. Butter lowers the risk of heart disease, as a new study at the University of Cambridge shows, circulating fatty acids from dairy reduced heart disease risk.

Margarine and other synthetically produced fats, which are high in omega-6 fatty acids, do the opposite by slowing the thyroid, and causing inflammation. Cancer risk increases with intake of margarine and other polyunsaturated fats, as well as obesity, and heart disease. Even infertility is linked to these fats, so why not just use the butter instead?

Well we did. This ultra-rich dessert is only for special occasions, and should be eaten in moderation:

So after the LONG hiatus ( my dad broke a spinal vertebra so it was a busy summer, thankfully he’s out of his brace and walking with one crutch) the food dissection is back. With an easy, probiotic-rich recipe made for late summer/early fall.

Apples are coming in season, and to get on with annoying our favorite Dic-Tator, apple chutney is in order.

2-3 tablespoons cane sugar ( depending on the sweetness of the apples)

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup raisins ( optional)

Utensils:

Large bowl and spoon

Lemon rind zester/peeler

2 quart or 3 1/2 liter jars

Place apples in a large bowl and mix with spices, cinnamon and sugar. Then add the salt ( the apples will start to let their juices out). Mix the zest and lemon juice and add the whey. Pack tightly into jars so that the juices cover the chutney on tope. Let it set from 1-2 days in a room tempertatre spot, and taste to serve. Delicious yogurt or kefir, pancake or waffle topping, nd a great side dish to meat, fish and vegetable meals. Cheers and good health!

Yesterday was my parent’s anniversary, and besides the bought presents I wanted to make a special treat. Not having a tone of time and ingredients, I scoured my panty and happily found leftover marzipan (sweetened almond) paste from Easter. A light bulb came on – bake free easy treat!

In a bowl, mix the paste and cacao ( or the almond paste, honey and cacao) until there is a marbling. Pinch off about 1.5 cm (half inch) pieces and roll them into spheres. Cover each sphere evenly with coconut flakes. Serve or store in a cool place to firm.

The downside of this all – the coffee itself may be full of pesticides, rancid, or even worse full of mycotoxins (fungal toxins). Roasting decreases some of the risk, but having a source of good quality preferably organic coffee is a good start. Drinking real coffee, and not all the frappy sugary artificial coffee based drinks (or instant coffee, which is chocked full of artificial ingredients and highest in acrylamide, a known cancer causing substance).

Having such a wonderful drink, how could it be improved… by adding butter. Yes, you heard me. When I first read about this I was very hesitant – butter is great on toast, on boiled broccoli, but in coffee? One needs to look no further for a butter lover – I am on the top ten list, from my previous posts ( University of Cambridge’s rehabilitation of butter as well as Dr. Aseem Malhorta’s defense of saturated fat, even the metanalysis done in California showing saturated fat does not contribute to heart disease) I am adamant in restoring its place in our kitchen and digestive tract. High in short chain fatty acids, vitamin K2, a high smoking point (clarified butter), a high Conjugated Linoleic Acid content and full ofomega 3 fatty acids(in grass fed cow butter), not to mention the great flavor, so many benefits are available both healthwise and culinary.

So today, after whipping up a fresh batch of butter, and only having goat milk, the decision to put butter in the morning coffee was set. To say the least, it was a great decision.

The procedure

The coffee (4 tablespoons) was freshly ground with a cardamon pod, a few cloves, and a pinch of grated nutmeg. After boiling the coffee (3 tablespoons for 3 cups of water), I added 2 tablespoons of fresh raw butter and used the hand blender – gave it a whirl for about 30 seconds. To my surprise, the butter formed a beautiful frothy cap on top. So that’s it- so easy, and a double punch of health benefits. No heart palpitations, since it seems the caffeine would be more slowly absorbed due to the higher fat content. There was also a greater feeling of fullness than after a regular cup of black or even milked coffee. This is going to be a morning staple. Cheers and good health!

Potatoes are a (not only) Polish staple food. High in vitamin B6, potassium, copper and vitamin C, they are a brain and heart nourishing food. One of my favorite ways to take in this delicious nightshade (which also grows quite easily in the ground or in a container) is to make Slaskie kluski, also known as kluski nylonowe, or nylon noodles. This is because their texture is unlike any other dumpling – they’re chewy and gummy. They are great served with a sweet side (like plum jam) or savory ( meat or mushroom). The recipe is quite simple, and can be brought up a notch for festive occassion like Easter – which I did by adding freshly chopped dill and chives for a great color effect. Served with a mushroom onion garlic sauce, they were a favorite at the Easter dinner.

Recipe:

2 pounds (or about a kilo) of freshly bolied potates

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 cup potato flour or starch ( give or take)

2 tablespoons cream

optional:

1/2 cup chopped chives and/or dill

Peel the boiled potatoes once they cool off a bit. Mash with cream in a very large bowl or on a pastry board. Add in the eggs and salt and mix. Keep mixing the mashed potates and flour until the mixture is a rubbery consistency. If you want the green effect, add the chives and/or dill at the end.

Boil a pot of water with a little bit of oil or butter (so the dumplings don’t stick). Pull 1.5- 2 inch (golfball sized pieces) of dough, roll and thumbprint the middle of each dumpling. After making 10-12 noodles, put them in the pot of water. After these rise put in the next batch. Each set of dumplings should boil for about 5 minutes after rising to the top. They can be served with bacon bits, with sweet jams (if made plain), or with our house favorite sos pieczarkowo-cebulowy (mushroom onion sauce).

Mushroom onion sauce:

1 pound mushrooms

3 medium yellow onions

2 cloves or garlic

1/2 teaspoon majoram

1/4 teaspoon oregano

pinch of rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of pepper

boiling water

1 teaspoon potato or buckwheat flour

Chop mushrooms, saute on a skillet until slightly browned, add finely chopped onions and garlic. Add spices, pour water over well sauted veggies, then add flour to thicken, add salt to adjust. Top the kluski while hot. Smacznego!

I love vanilla – the flavor, aroma, the aura it gives cakes, cookies, and even coffee. Vanilla is not cheap, though. It’s the second most expensive spice after saffron.

Of course there is vanillin – the synthetic extract found in most processed foods with “natural flavors” or something of the kind. These flavors, along with artificial strawberry flavors, come from the castor sacs of beavers, which is something most people don’t want to ingest, or wouldn’t if they knew.

Real vanilla contains vanilloids, which act like capsaicin, reducing pain and inflammation in the body, just like many hot pepper cultivars. It also has antimicrobial activity. So using is not only tasty and pleasant, but healthful too.

The best way to get real vanilla is to buy the beans yourself. The beans come in pods from vine like plants. If you have a local grower or have the plant, that’s great. If you’re like me, and buy the pods dried, the best way to make them last is to make vanilla extract.

Basically you put vanilla pods in vodka. My baseline (completely not scientific) is adding a minimum of 4 pods per 500 ml, putting in a cool dark place for at least 3 months, and them having an endless supply of vanilla extract. Adding more pods will intensify the flavor, as will a longer wait period.

This makes for a great gift, the whole bottle (if you’re feeling rather generous) or dividing it up into smaller bottles.